The Morning After
by CherryNinja
Summary: Sometimes getting drunk is like a lottery, you never know what you will wake up to the next morning. And Zhang Liao is in for one very big surprise.


This is one of the pairings I really wanted to write. Nothing exciting, just a little Lu Bu/Zhang Liao loving. ^_^

I know that Zhang Liao sounds a bit naïve and self-conscious and not at all like the kickass bastard that we all know and love, but this story is set during Dong Zhou times. So even though his birth date isn't know he had to have been quite young at that time.

* * *

When Zhang Liao woke up, his eyes still closed, there were three things he noticed immediately: his head hurt, his ass hurt and there was somebody snuggled up behind him. Somebody big.

The first thing happened from time to time. While lord Lu Bu didn't hold many feasts, his father Dong Zhou certainly did and there were many times when the lords and generals partied enough that Zhang Liao would wake up with a pounding in his head the next day. Just like the day before when they had celebrated an important victory and the alcohol had been flowing freely, certainly enough to cause him a terrible headache. So nothing unusual there.

The third thing was somehow more improbable. It was true, he enjoyed sleeping with men from time to time. (There was no way that the huge presence behind him was a woman and it wasn't hairy enough to be a bear. Not that he would bed a bear of course.) But it was rare for him to stay after they had finished. So the fact that he would go to sleep with the other still next to him was quite unusual. Unusual but not impossible.

It was the second thing that really bothered him. Why did his ass hurt? Even when he slept with men he never submitted, always was the dominant one. He had made that clear enough times already that all his potential bed partners would know. There was only one man he would ever submit to. But sadly that would probably never happen, seeing as his lord had never shown any interest in him or any other men as far as he knew. Maybe somebody had forced him while he had been drunk? But that also seemed unlikely. Even when he had been drunk he would have fought back and there were no other body parts that hurt enough for that to be a possibility. But that only left one alternative: he had indeed submitted willingly. And that seemed nearly impossible to him.

What the hell had happened last night?

Zhang Liao tried to remember the events from the previous evening, but unfortunately he seemed to have a complete blackout, not one memory coming to him. That only left one option: he had to open his eyes and look at the man behind him. Maybe the identity of his bed companion would clear up the whole mess.

Groggily Zhang Liao blinked his eyes open. It was still dusky outside, the sun hadn't risen yet, but he could still see that this wasn't his tent. He carefully looked down his body where a powerful arm was resting on his hip and reached across his chest. Zhang Liao swallowed. He only knew one man who had arms like that.

Carefully he turned around, not wanting to wake up the man lying behind him. And even though he had kind of anticipated seeing the face he was now looking at, it still came as a shock. Behind him on the bed, sleeping peacefully, was his lord Lu Bu.

Zhang Liao drew back in shock. But seeing as Lu Bu was rather big while the bed they were lying on was rather small, there was nowhere for him to freak out, which was why Zhang Liao soon found himself lying on the floor next to the bed. He was still rubbing the back of his head where he had hit the floor (which was really not helping with the pounding in his head) when he noticed a head peeking over the edge of the bed. Lu Bu was looking down on him, eyes blinking sleepily and slightly confused.

"Whaddaya want down there?" Lu Bu frowned.

"My lord, I don't-"

A yawn. "Come back to bed."

He didn't have any time to say or do anything before one of Lu Bu's massive hands was grabbing his arm and pulling him up. Not wanting to risk losing his arm Zhang Liao hurried to get up from the floor. A soon as he was halfway on the bed he was yanked forward against a broad chest, lying on his side while strong arms wrapped around his back, nearly suffocating him against the other's pecs. He tried to put some space between them but Lu Bu's arm around his body had effectively trapped him. Death by bear hug wasn't a very nice one.

He tried to wiggle free. "My lord, you're crushing me."

At first nothing happened and Zhang Liao thought that the bigger man hadn't heard him. But then there was a mumble and the arms around him loosened slightly, giving him room to breath again. He scooted back a little but still remained in the embrace.

It felt nice, lying in the arms of his lord like this. Safe and warm. He really didn't want to disturb this momentary peace, but there were still so many question running around in his head.

"My lord?" A light 'hmm?' was his sign to continue. "What happened last night?" Zhang Liao looked up into the face of the man that was still holding onto him tightly and saw a small smile appear.

"We had a lot of fun together." Suddenly the other opened his eyes, looked down at him and the smile turned into a wicked smirk. "Has anybody ever told you that you are a real wildcat in bed?"

Zhang Liao's eyes widened and he could feel his face burning. Suddenly very shy he hid his face in Lu Bu's chest. "No, I… that's not what I meant. What happened before that? I can't remember a single thing."

"Hm, that's a shame, because we had a really good time together." He felt a chuckle rumble through the other's chest and one of the hands on his back started stroking along his spine. Hmm, that felt nice. "I was walking through the camp when I heard an argument and saw you storm off from behind one of the tents. Then somebody ran after you, grabbed your arm and you whirled around, facing the guy. He said something about you being as stubborn as a mule and you yelled back that it was his own fault and that he should have knows exactly that you wouldn't bottom for him. And that's when it got really interesting. When the guy told you that you should simply give up your childish hero worship and that I would never give you the time of day you punched him right in the face. I didn't see who the poor guy was but I guess we just have to look who has a black eye today."

'Kill me now' was the only thing that ran through Zhang Liao's mind while he tried to burrow his face even deeper in the other's chest. How could something like that ever happen? And why did his lord have to be there to witness it?

No one was supposed to know of his affection for Lu Bu. He had always kept that secret hidden deep inside himself. At least he had thought so, but apparently it had not been deep enough. Either he had been that obvious in his behaviour, or, what seemed more likely, he had blabbed it out when he had been drunk. Either way, he was doomed.

When Zhang Liao tried to shrink away even more, the arm around his back tightened, keeping him in place while the hand that had been stroking his back went up to his head burying fingers in his hair.

"Stay here, I'm not finished yet."

Sighing defeated, Zhang Liao resigned himself to his fate. At least his lord didn't seem angry so far.

"I won't say that I had had fantasies about sleeping with you, but your little display had definitely intrigued me. So I went over to you while you were still glowering at the guy who was now lying on the ground. I was just about to say something when you turned around and puked on the ground. Well, at least you had the decency to turn away from me." Zhang Liao groaned inwardly at the other's amusement. "Since it was obvious that you had had enough to drink already I wanted to bring you to your tent. But I didn't know where your tent was so I brought you here instead. I gave you some water and wanted to put you to bed to let you sleep it off, but when I started taking off your armour you pulled me down and tried to kiss me. And since there was no reason not to, I went along with it." He could hear the smirk in the other's voice. "I guess you can imagine the rest."

Yeah, Zhang Liao could imagine. (Well, he had to since he still couldn't remember a single thing from last night and that just sucked.) He could also imagine what his lord must think of him now. A drunkard that punched people, puked in the middle of their camp and threw himself at somebody that only wanted to be helpful and nice. But worst of all was probably that Lu Bu had told him that he had never even thought about sleeping with him and he had practically forced himself on his lord.

"I can hear the wheels turning in your head and it is keeping me from sleep. What is it now?"

Zhang Liao jumped slightly when he heard Lu Bu talk. He had thought that the other had gone to sleep again.

"I was just wondering why you slept with me if you didn't want to." He wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer.

When Zhang Liao heard a long sigh coming from the other man he feared that he had said something stupid, but when the thumb in his hair started stroking his scalp, the little gesture was enough to calm his nerves.

"Believe me, nobody forces me to do something or someone I don't want. Besides, I never said that I didn't want to, I just said that I had never really thought about it. Which is quite a shame because then this could have happened much earlier."

At these words Zhang Liao had to smile. Suddenly he felt Lu Bu shift. The other man rolled on his back and took Zhang Liao along so that he was now lying with his head on the other man's chest, still in the embrace of those strong arms.

"And now I want you to stop thinking and go back to sleep." The hand on his back went down to grab his butt and Zhang Liao had to bite back a not so manly squeak. "And after that, how about a repeat performance? Maybe that will help you regain some of your memories from last night."

Zhang Liao grinned. "As you wish my lord."

With these words he closed his eyes. He could think about everything later. Because really, there were worse places to be than wrapped up in the strong arms of his lord.


End file.
